


cause god knows i fall in love just a little (oh, a little bit)

by axsun



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/F, M/M, Multi, Other, a series of answered asks, content warnings will be displayed in the chapter description, each chapter will also have a rating, no grammar or proper english conventions we die like men, ship prompts, so i won't be tagging them in the main fic, that i spent too much time on so they're going on here, will tag as they come!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:27:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 6,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25797412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/axsun/pseuds/axsun
Summary: a series of answered ship prompts from my criminal minds sideblog.ask here, either with a blog or on anon! am not sure if/when i'll get around, but who knows! will keep this uncompleted for a bit. accepting mostly sapphic ships since i'm most comfortable with those, but i'll try my hand at others as well.--> https://ssa-lesbian.tumblr.com/post/625911245330169856/send-me-a-ship-and-a-number-and-ill-tell-younot accepting: hotchreid, jeid, anyone with gideon or rossi. will add as they come (oops)
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner & The BAU Team, Derek Morgan/Spencer Reid, Elle Greenaway/Jennifer "JJ" Jareau, Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss, Penelope Garcia/Jennifer "JJ" Jareau
Comments: 4
Kudos: 52





	1. (t) jemily // what do they do on date night?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> content warning: mentions of alcohol, curse words.

**jemily // what do they do on date night?** OH MY GOD OKAY!! 

okay so their first few dates they try to schedule really fancy dinners, they both want this relationship to be perfect and on the inside they both know there’s an expectation of them (albeit not from each other)-- jj from rural pennsylvania feeling like she has to step out of her background, emily from socialite/ambassador’s daughter feeling like she has to prove herself. so it’s these dates at high-end restaurants with fancy wine and shit.

except their fucking CASES!!!!! they always come in literal minutes before they’re supposed to leave (they show up to the conference room in fancy outfits, which amuses everyone except the two of them), and reid can babble off all the statistics he wants, EVERY SINGLE TIME!! they have a date scheduled, a case comes in. every. single. time.

and then one night they get back to the shitty motel late and the ac is too loud and emily prentiss says “fuck it” and knocks on jj’s door and is like “i am your boss and i am ordering you to let me sleep in your room for the night”

and this happens a couple of times, just the two of them ending up in each other’s rooms during cases and sleeping curled up in each other’s arms, and then one night they bring food upstairs because it’s too late to eat together as a group and there’s a hallmark movie playing on the tv and then simultaneously they say...... wait. wait. is this a date?

and then they realize fuck it, time is precious, their work is dangerous, every single night is date night if they think it is, and that’s what happens. no more fancy dinners and wine and missed reservations; after work, emily just drops by jj’s house and helps cook dinner and they eat together with the boys and when they’re asleep they’ll curl up on the bed and watch some movies and if it gets too late emily will stay the night. when the boys are with will, jj will come over to emily’s and the process repeats. if they do work together in the same room? a date. clean the house? a date. 

and if they want something “fancy”,, they go to the park (the boys come along if they’re with jj) and walk around, just chillin. sometimes they kiss. sometimes they just walk. sometimes they bring along a blanket and just sit in the shade and watch the boys scuffle. and it’s always very nice.


	2. (g) jelle // what was their first impression of each other?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> content warning: none. it's fluff.

**jelle // what was their first impression of each other?**

OKAY THIS IS LIKE, KINDA CANON, BUT I’VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT IT A LOT!!

so for the seattle case, jj is off on mandatory vacation time, and the first time she hears about elle is from hotch; he just approved her transfer documents, and if jj doesn’t get new info first, she always gets it second from hotch. 

and she opens elle greenaway’s file and is like _whoa_. whoa. whoa. highest number of solved cases in seattle for three years? specialty in sex offender cases? and she looks like _that_? jj looks like the heart-eyes emoji right now. she thinks she’s in love.

but she completely BLOWS IT!!! she misses her shot, she sees elle’s sun-streaked hair and cocky lil smirk (and that SUIT!!) and she just. word-vomits everywhere. god elle must think she’s so lame, oh my god, jj doesn’t have a chance--

except. except elle is strangely endeared. this (pretty) young woman comes up to her with the most stunning eyes and is clearly well-versed (knew every detail about elle, which is always flattering), and she’s the liaison? very respectable, she must know her way around anyone, elle can always respect that.

so for jj it’s like incredible awe, elle is a mix of professional respect and also... hm. cute girl!


	3. (t) moreid // what do they do for their anniversary?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> content warning: rated t for curse words. fluff.

**moreid // what do they do for their anniversary?**

we all know reid. two seconds after morgan asks him out (yeah morgan asks him out), he’s already counting down the seconds to their one-year anniversary. which means he needs to do something for the anniversary. which means he has to prepare for the anniversary. which means it has to be perfect because it’s morgan and morgan is perfect. and oh god. oh god. oh god.

he has everything set up literally a month in advance. reid knows morgan doesn’t actually like football, but he knows morgan enjoys architecture (he can keep up with reid in discussions and he seems to enjoy talking about it anyways, especially in his house work), and he manages to book a private day at the national building museum (thanks garcia!!). and also cane’s is down the block, and morgan really likes cane’s, so that’s dinner solved. 

and the day comes, and reid can’t sleep because oh god. what the hell? a fucking MUSEUM? he booked a MUSEUM for MORGAN? derek morgan?? a museum??????? and this is a fucking nightmare, he’s a complete idiot, CANE’S????? CANE’S FOR THE ANNIVERSARY?? morgan can get cane’s anytime, this was supposed to be special, oh my god, this is a complete wreck. reid considers breaking up with morgan before the museum opens so morgan doesn’t have to know how much he fucked up, but the thought of breaking up with him has him in tears. okay. okay maybe they’ll just have a shit anniversary, reid promises he will make this up for morgan no matter what.

he doesn’t tell morgan where he’s gonna take him until they pull up into the parking lot and morgan is like..... why is no one here? and why is parking free? and reid is all you’ll see!!! and he leads morgan to the museum and morgan is like okay. and reid is..... disappointed. they step into the first exhibit and morgan is. enamored? entranced? he’s just staring around and reid is literally s h a k i n g from nerves, and morgan turns around and reid thinks he’s gonna tell him he’s a fucking idiot, but then morgan says, “can you explain this more? this exhibition explanation is useless.”

and reid launches into the history whatever the fucking building morgan is looking at, and morgan is nodding along and he’s? holding up his own? like asking questions too and commenting, and they move through the museum and reid is talking and morgan is listening and. and he seems to be having a good time!

they go get cane’s and reid is sitting down when morgan asks if they can head over to reid’s, and reid says sure but internally he’s screaming because he’s thinking morgan doesn’t like this. morgan doesn’t want to be here. this is the worst fucking anniversary in the entire world. oh my fucking god. he’s the worst boyfriend ever. morgan deserves so much more.

and back at reid’s home he finally asks... is this okay? i’m sorry this is so bad. i didn’t think this through. i’m so sorry--

and morgan is like what? i should be asking you that, you looked like you were gonna throw up, i figured you’d be more comfortable at home. 

and reid is like oh. oh.

and morgan catches on and he’s like pretty boy. pretty boy, this was perfect. i didn’t think i would like learning but it turns out i love learning if you’re talking. also i fucking love cane’s. and reid is like oh. oh. he’s about to tear up. morgan liked the anniversary.

and morgan’s like whoops! i should give u my anniversary gift. and reid is oh?

it’s a thick book, with a deep royal purple cloth cover and “ à mon amour “ in a gold-amber accent on the front (”it means to my love in french, cause french is like, the most romantic language or whatever”), and reid opens it and. and it’s a photobook. and there are photos of morgan and reid together. and. and there are so many photos of them. and there are empty pages-- “for the future,” morgan says. and. and. and it’s just them. and reid totally thinks he’s gonna cry.

a few weeks, reid is embarrassed with how flustered he was with the anniversary and brings it up to garcia one night. garcia, the beautiful wingwoman she is, pulls up hers and morgan’s convo the week before. all 341 panic messages, ranging from “is this a good shade of purple?” to “do i look good in this picture?”


	4. (g) jemily // who is the better cook?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> content warning: none. it's fluff.

**jemily // who is the better cook?**

so by theory (BY THEORY!!), emily is the better cook. she grew up with like three cooks and six nannies, she’s watched them cook and talk about food, she KNOWS how many teaspoons you have to use, how much seasoning to use for extra effect, she knows. she knows how to cook like one knows how to write code except they’ve never written code.

she cannot cook to save her damn life. either it’s underseasoned or overseasoned, raw or burned, and it’s just no, she wouldn’t wish this on anyone.

jj, on the other hand, has been cooking for herself since her late teens, throughout college, as an adult, she cooked for two young boys-- yeah, she knows how to cook. and it usually tastes good! granted, it’s catered to her own taste, aka she doesn’t care much, but at least it’s edible. unlike whatever comes off of emily’s stove, everyone can eat it.

(they usually get takeout anyways.)


	5. (t) jemily // what do they argue about?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> content warning: gun violence, angst, swearing.

**jemily // what do they argue about?**

okay they’re like, a magic couple, they don’t argue. at all. they’ll squabble but then jj will bat her baby doe blues and emily is morally obligated to do whatever she wants (tara called her a simp once and emily didn’t leave her office the entire day). 

the biggest argument either of them can remember having was out in the field, it was a team takedown, and emily is so brave, so selfless, which jj loves about her, but not when emily decides taking off her vest is the best way to approach the unsub. jj is the first to notice the unsub tighten his hand around the gun that she throws herself at emily and knocks her out of the way, and the bullet hits her.

thankfully, it’s her ribs and she’s wearing the vest, so it’s just bruising, and the rest of the team takes the guy down, but oh boy. oh boy. reid and rossi have known the two the longest, but they didn’t know they could be 1) this loud, and 2) this angry. they hold up the paramedics for ten minutes because they’re screaming at each other, emily at jj for almost getting killed, jj at emily for taking off her vest. their voices are rising, emily yells, _what, you think i couldn’t do it?_ and jj screams back, _no, i thought i was going to lose you!_ and emily just. shuts up. and jj is wheezing because she’s panting from exertion and also her ribs hurt so much and emily is realizing, okay, maybe i’m a fucking idiot.

that’s the quietest the team has ever seen emily, especially in a hospital, waiting for jj to get released.

tldr, jj gets mad at emily for being so selfless, emily gets upset when she thinks jj is worrying too much about her.

(but joke’s on them because jj’s worst fear is getting left behind and emily’s worst fear is failure!!)


	6. (g) jemily //  what TV shows do they watch together, and which ones do they hide from the other?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> content warning: none. it's fluff.

**jemily // what TV shows do they watch together, and which ones do they hide from the other?**

this is fun b/c i don’t. watch. tv LMFAO.

honestly they watch anything and everything together. they love watching crime shows (this is basically fanon) and trying to profile the unsubs of each episode. jj has a soft spot for romcoms/happy endings and emily enjoys watching animated shows (shera, atla, bojack), and while they aren’t interchangeable preferences, they’ll still watch them together because they love and value each other’s interests uwu


	7. (g) jelle // what do they argue about?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> content warning: none. light angst/fluff? we love healthy relationships with communication.

**jelle // what do they argue about?**

okay so for clarification, my hc of jelle is along canon timeline, so imagine s1-s2 jj and elle.

but,, basically elle is much more outspoken than jj, she’s not afraid to get straight to the point, and she thinks jj needs to be more firm and blunt otherwise everyone’s gonna walk over jj. and jj’s like well, it doesn’t hurt to be polite?

it doesn’t cause much disagreement, but sometimes jj has a bad experience w/ the media and elle unintentionally says something negative and jj gets frustrated, or elle is talking and gets offended when they leave her hanging and is only exasperated by jj suggesting she be more nice.

but it’s only for a moment, because they realize at some point, that’s how they survived. jj had to pull some personal strings and hit personal bases to make herself more suggestible to be successful as a liaison, and elle had to be as ambitious and forward as possible to make sure she wasn’t being manipulated or pushed over. they still don’t agree on it, but they’ve worked on turning it into a “discussion” than an “argument”.


	8. (t) moreid // what do they argue about?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> content warning: light angst/fluff, implied slash, but loosely implied.

**moreid // what do they argue about?**

communication. morgan likes subtext, he likes little hints, little nudges in the right direction, suggestive looks and smirks. reid likes direct words, he likes being blunt, knowing exactly who and what is going on. not understanding morgan’s implications is frustrating because morgan gets upset he doesn’t understand and reid feels like he’s a child and humiliated. morgan gets upset because there’s a kind of game with subtext and everything, and it’s not fun if you just _say_ everything!!

but you know what? they love each other, and they’re willing to compromise. morgan will drop his subtext and then reiterate if reid doesn’t understand. reid doesn’t know how to “drop hints” but he also knows morgan gets super turned on when reid is very explicit, and so he’ll tell morgan what he wants in clear and concise detail, even the mundane things.


	9. (t) moreid // what tv shows do they watch together, and what do they hide from each other?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> content warning: rating is just cause i say a bad word in all caps. fluff.

**moreid // what tv shows do they watch together, and what do they hide from each other?**

again i don’t watch tv lmfaoooooo BUT! they always watch new releases (both tv and movies) together, no matter what genre it is. like the unit chief wives, they watch criminology shows together a lot except reid examines every single plothole and inaccuracy and morgan complains that they need more action shots. individually, reid watches his documentaries and foreign movies (morgan can’t sit still for SHIT), morgan pretends to be all high and mighty with action movies, but he has a super soft spot for animated movies and anime (studio ghibli, your name, weathering with you). that’s my headcanon and no one can convince me otherwise, you’re welcome.


	10. (t) moreid // who outlives the other, and how do they cope?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> content warning: angst. heavy angst. death. sudden death. trauma. survivor's guilt. nothing explicit, but let me know if there's anything else i need to tag.

**moreid // who outlives the other, and how do they cope?**

it’s morgan. no one expected it, least of all him, considering how much older he is than reid. but it is godforsakenly unexpected. he goes to sleep with morgan one night and when morgan wakes up, reid is in his arms, on his chest, head nuzzled under his chin, and he isn’t breathing. 

morgan is a trained federal agent. he feels for a pulse (there’s none), he performs cpr (reid doesn’t move), he calls for an ambulance, and when they come, there’s nothing they can do. he must’ve passed sometime in the middle of the night in his sleep, they say, and morgan can’t hear anything because his ears are ringing and reid isn’t moving, isn’t saying anything, but any moment he should sit up and tell the paramedic they’re wrong, _this_ is the actual statistic of what happened based on present symptoms, maybe dc medics should get better training, and morgan will laugh and kiss him and he will kiss him back except he doesn’t.

garcia and luke arrives at the hospital first. morgan is still in shock, garcia is in tears, but morgan was always there for her and she needs to be there for him, and they sit in the hospital quietly as they wait for the report. luke knows reid but not morgan, and he sits a little further, gives them their space and also grieving. then it’s jj and emily (he doesn’t notice they aren’t holding hands for him), then hotch comes rushing in, rossi right behind him, then tara and matt.

something about a sudden ruptured brain aneurysm. morgan still can’t hear anything. they say he didn’t suffer, that it didn’t hurt.

(reid died and morgan didn’t.)

god, the next few months are the worst. he’s worked with his pretty boy for seventeen years, married to his love for thirty-six years, he’s lived with him for more than half his life, and now he’s gone. gone. gone.

(gone.)

he still goes to work, still goes on his runs, still makes dinner, but he can’t feel anything. garcia comes over and cooks dinner, jj invites him on runs, emily shows up at his door and insists they watch shitty movies while incredibly drunk, tara takes him out to new businesses in town, but he can’t feel anything. the only times morgan can process any emotion is when he’s asleep and he’s dreaming and reid is in his arms and still breathing.

morgan’s sorting through reid’s stuff (he can’t throw anything out, he needs it here) when he finds the scrapbook he gave reid for their first birthday.

god, they were that young?

it gets better. he makes it his duty that every morning when he wakes up, he will flip through the scrapbook and remember reid’s laughter and smile and tousled hair and fidgeting fingers and keep going. it still hurts (god, he has some awful nights, fucking survivor’s guilt or some shit), but he keeps waking up and he keeps looking through the scrapbook and he keeps going out with his friends and he keeps waking up and he keeps looking through the scrapbook and--

it’s one night he has with hotch-- they don’t usually hang out but jack’s kid (god, hotch has a grandkid?) wants to play football and hotch swears morgan is the best football player he knows-- and they’re alone that hotch reaches out and tells him, “something a good friend told me. you’ll think about him every day. but one day you’ll think about him, and it won’t hurt.”

and morgan believes him.

(he still looks through the scrapbook, and it doesn’t hurt as much.)


	11. (g) jemily // how do they decorate their bedroom?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> content warning: none, it's fluff.

**jemily // how do they decorate their bedroom?**

you must understand, emily and jj have very different aesthetics. emily likes contrast (dark colors against white, light against dark) and jj likes muted. emily is all about minimalism, jj is all clutterbitch aesthetic. so when they move in together, they agree to keep it minimalistic-- they have two kids and they’d rather indulge in the two of them than themselves, so it’s kinda their way of saving money or whatever. they have their king sized bed (fit for two queens), their shared dresser, their mirror, and a big painting (apparently tara paints! they bought it from her). neither of them mind much.

but then henry brings home a painting from school (henry is growing into a wonderful artist, he has a natural way with lines specifically) and well the fridge has no space, the living room walls have no space, henry made this specifically for his moms, and they have no choice but to put it in their bedroom. except michael got jealous, so he made his own drawing for his moms and they hung that up as well, but then michael realized doing art was kinda fun, so by the end of the week they have dozens of little drawings hung up in the master bedroom and the bedroom is no longer minimalist, and jj comes home one day from the flea market (emily has a migraine) and she has like _s i x_ different weirdly abstract cat sculptures and jj says, “don’t they look like serg?” and they don’t but they’re strangely endearing and sergio no longer knocks things off of the countertop so they go on top of the dresser and now emily wakes up in a bedroom covered floor-to-ceiling in the drawings of a little kid and an older kid who knows how to manipulate the arts better and on their dresser and nightstands and the little tables they bought are little widgets that they both brought back from shopping trips and--

and emily doesn’t mind it much.

it kinda feels like home.


	12. (g) moreid // who makes a bigger deal of birthdays?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> content warning: none, it's fluff. implied alcohol, but not explicit.

**moreid // who makes a bigger deal of birthdays?**

reid knows morgan loves any excuse for a party, and even despite his sense of perfection, he’s smart enough he goes to garcia to plan the entire thing, because he might love him, but boy does garcia know how to make a good party. morgan loves the show of it, but he’ll also call the party off a bit earlier, pulling some “drank too much haha! calling it a night” and reid will try and take care of him and morgan will let him because he knows reid doesn’t like parties (too many germs and too many sounds) and honestly, he might like the presentation but he loves reid more than any birthday party, and he won’t complain if he falls asleep a little earlier than usual, curled into reid’s arms.

morgan also knows reid didn’t get any birthdays going up, and when they start dating, morgan makes sure that on reid’s birthday, it’s all about him. they will do anything and everything reid wants. if reid wants to watch that new six-hour-long arabic documentary (subtitles in russian), then morgan will commission garcia (she doesn’t accept the money, she just sends it to him) to pirate the highest quality of it available and they’ll play it on the bigscreen in hd. if reid wants to eat only chocolate, then they will only eat chocolate. if reid wants to go to sleep at 4AM, then they will go to sleep at 4AM. 

reid never got a birthday for himself, so morgan lets him know how important it is that reid made it through another year.


	13. (g) platonic team and hotch // what are their nicknames for (hotch)?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> content warning: none, good ol' platonic fluff.

**platonic team and hotch // what are their special nicknames for each other?**

oh boy okay!! i’m not too good with nicknames but i will give it my best shot

rossi: oh rossi. likes to poke fun at hotch, will call him “aaron” if either a) it’s a serious moment, or b) needs hotch to do something for him. but also very affectionately calls him “patatino.” neither rossi nor emily will translate, but hotch has a sneaking suspicion rossi wouldn’t call him it in english (it still softens him whenever rossi uses it though).

gideon: hotch.

derek: usually just hotch. under his breath he’ll mutter “the big ol’ g-man” after hotch has scolded him out, but just hotch.

reid: just hotch. it feels weird to call him anything else.

jj: again, just hotch. she’s the only one who’s ever called him “agent hotchner” unironically just cause of her job, but hotch is the go-to.

emily: The Boss (she says it in a way you know the T and B are capitalized), G-Man, Mr. President, Eyebrows, Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner. these are usually behind his back but hotch knows about all of them,, if she really wants to poke at hotch, it’s Aaron this, Aaron that. one time she called him Hotchie-Poo to his face and she was suspended for the day.

blake: hotch lmfao.

tara: again, hotch. at the beginning she was v professional, agent hotchner this, agent hotchner that, but then she starts calling him hotch hehe

luke: only got to know him as hotch :”)

and,,, last but not least,, ,,

garcia: she knows that she’s the only one who can call hotch anything and not get suspended for it, so she takes advantage of it. sweetcheeks, honey, sweetheart, King Hotch, Your Royal Highness, Double O 7, lil dimples, and one, horrifying time, in front of the entire precinct and team, shortly before emily got suspended, “hotchie-poo.” garcia thought she was gonna lose her job, hotch just nodded and said “thanks garcia” before hanging up.

garcia thinks she can use any of these nicknames because hotch can’t fire her otherwise the team falls apart, but. but hotch actually enjoys her nicknames a lot just bc he knows how genuine she is when she calls him those.


	14. (t) moreid // which one swears more?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> content warning: rated T for good ol' fashioned swearing.

**moreid // which one swears more?**

hmm this one is kinda tough, but here’re my thoughts--

morgan definitely has swearing peppered into his sentences, albeit not as much as he used to. he’ll stub his toe and mutter “damn!” instead of hollering “SHIT”, he’ll say, “aw, hell no,” and we all know when he’s really angry-- “son of a bitch!” “shit, we lost him.” but all in all, maybe swearing is average.

reid? doesn’t swear. at all. in his daily convos. but his emotions do build up (see- s7e4, painless). so when he does swear, _oh boy_. oh boy. oh boy. reid knows at least 17 languages in theory, and sometimes morgan doesn’t even recognize the english curse words.


	15. (g) jelle // what do their love letters look like?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> content warning: angst and fluff. also this is probably my favorite one so far.

**jelle // what do their love letters look like?**

so when they’re dating, they don’t send letters because writing letters takes a long time and energy and honestly jj has so much work even after hours, but they do text, or at least text as much one can with an early 2000s era flip phone. internet slang isn’t a thing, so their texts are very professional, with perfect grammar, spelling, punctuation, and like also, their texts are full fucking paragraphs because they’re federal employees, they don’t have the money for spam messages. they also know garcia isn’t above searching through their phones if she thought something was up, but when they slip, jj sends a <3 and elle signs herself off with xoxo.

(they make up for it in person.)

and in a timeline where elle doesn’t leave the team, she and jj briefly separate because elle is caught up with everything, she doesn’t want to drag jj down with her. she ends up going to therapy after “aftermath” and jj showing up at her house and begging elle not to leave, and her therapist asks her if there’s anyone she wants to apologize to, and the first person elle thinks of is jj. and her therapist suggests writing her a letter. elle thinks it’s stupid, but she finds herself writing one anyways. elle isn’t good at emotions, it’s all simple sentences, hard facts, _I am sorry, I messed up, I still love you, and I am sorry for that,_ and elle ends up crumpling it in her purse before going to work that day.

but in one of those hallmark movie miracles, the paper falls out of her bag in the bullpen and gets kicked around until jj herself kicks it into her office, and when she bends down to pick it up and throw it away, she sees at the top of the crinkled corner _To JJ_ in elle’s signature straight print. and jj reads it.

(reid stops by later to ask her a question about one of the reports, but he leaves when he hears jj sobbing.)

(she doesn’t talk about it.)

the next day, there’s a neatly folded piece of paper on elle’s desk with _To Elle_ scrawled in jj’s incoherent scribble, and with a frown, elle picks it up and it’s _Elle, you did nothing wrong, I am the one who is sorry, I miss your laugh and your sighs and your eyes every single morning, and I promise I never hated you for leaving when you needed to heal, I still love you, more than you will ever know_ and--

jj watches from her office as elle very delicately folds the paper up, places it in her purse, and squeezes her eyes closed for a very long time before opening them again and going to work.

(jj notices elle won’t look her in the eye for the rest of the day.)

the next morning, elle drops by her office, says she has files for jj, and jj says sure, she takes them and when elle leaves jj finds another piece of paper with _To JJ_ in what is undeniably elle’s handwriting and jj reads it and it’s _I had forgotten how blue your eyes were. I enjoyed watching you tease Morgan Reid yesterday._

elle has another piece of paper on her desk the next day, in iconic jj scrawl, it’s _Last night’s traffic was bad, but I remembered how you sang with the car radio (you always told me you hated modern pop, but your voice was clear as a bell and watching you bathed in golden sun, it felt like you were in love with the music itself) and I tried it out myself, and it reminded me of the nights we spent together just listening to music and holding each other._ this one is placed carefully in her purse, right next to the letter from two days before.

this goes on, elle and jj exchanging letters in the morning, hotch knows there’s definitely something going on but he also knows they still won’t look each other in the eye and so he leaves it to them, and elle tries writing more romantically, her letters still stumbling a bit, and jj writes her entire heart onto her page. elle’s therapist notices she’s willing to talk a little more during sessions, but still won’t open up about _her_.

and one night on a flight back from a case, the only free seat is next to elle, so jj slips in quietly, and well, they’re tired, the entire team’s tired, and jj’s so exhausted her hand is shaking on her reports and her head is dipping forward and elle can’t take it anymore, she moves the armrest separating their seats and tilts her body so her back is to the window, and she takes jj and pulls her into her chest. jj is too tired to be surprised and accepts it immediately, curling into her warmth and falling asleep immediately, and elle dozes off as well, hand still weaving through jj’s locks (they’re just as soft as she remembers).

(morgan sends garcia a pic. garcia sends back a recording of her screaming.)

they still drop off letters for each other, but hotch sees them holding hands and looking at each other like they’re the only one in the whole entire universe.


	16. (g) platonic hotch and team // what are (hotch's) nicknames for the (team)?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> content warning: none, just fluff kinda.

**platonic bau team and hotch // what are their nicknames for each other?**

hotch doesn’t let anyone know he has nicknames for his team because 1) that’s unprofessional, and 2) they’re his names and his names only, but he still has them.

rossi: The Stallion. no explanation needed.

gideon: just gideon. no nickname.

derek: chief. they clash a lot and chief comes out in hotch’s head as almost mocking, but sometimes he’ll think about it and realize he genuinely means it, derek is a good leader and he truly respects him.

reid: superman. this has slipped out once and hotch denied it vehemently, and he’s mad at himself that he even said it out loud, but really it’s cause reid is about the same age as sean and sean was a sickly kid and hotch was the one who rocked sean to sleep and told him stories about a powerful man with superpowers and that sean was his superman and--

he just sticks with reid.

jj: sometimes he’ll call her jayje like the other girls do, and jj is secretly pleased because wow, aaron hotchner showing affection publicly? his secret pet name for her is bambi, because _god_ jj is just s o tiny and also have u seen her doe eyes?

emily: Headache (with a capital H)

blake: just blake.

tara: honestly? doc.

luke: no nickname, he didn’t know him long enough.

garcia: he would literally die than let anyone (even garcia) know, but his little nickname for her is sunnie, as in sun and sunshine, because that’s truly what she is.


	17. (g) jemily // who makes a bigger deal of birthdays?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> content warning: fluff.

**jemily // who makes a bigger deal of birthdays?**

short answer: they both make a big deal about birthdays, it’s an excuse to shower even more love on their wife.

long answer: emily makes sure jj’s birthday are as extravagant as possible-- she makes jj feel pampered and loved, showering her in gifts and food and wine. whatever jj wants, jj gets. emily’s mom drops a call yelling about the dip in her trust fund, but emily doesn’t care.

emily’s birthday, on the other, jj makes sure they’re laced with as much meaning as possible. emily grew up with fake smiles and fake gifts and jj knows she’ll appreciate a cake from the homestyle bakery downtown than a big extravagant cake. these birthdays are spent with the team and friends, jj orders catering from emily’s favorite thai place and desserts from the little bakery. after the party, they’ll curl up on the couch and watch lilo and stitch, falling asleep still nestled into each other.


	18. (g) jemily // what would they change about the other?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> content warning: slight angst? pretty sure it's mostly fluff though.

**jemily // what would they change about the other?**

they love each other greatly, don’t get me wrong.

jj wishes emily would be less selfless. it’s one of her favorite things about her, how she puts others before her, but sometimes it feels like emily genuinely doesn’t care about herself and throws herself into dangerous situations with no care for her own safety or health and jj wishes cases where emily went in headfirst didn’t make her feel so anxious and afraid.

honestly, emily wouldn’t change a single thing about jj. maybe she wishes jj would be less worried all the time, but she also understands where jj is coming from, and she wouldn’t change her for anything because of that.


	19. (g) jj x garcia // what was their first impression of each other?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> content warning: fluff!!

**jj x garcia // what was their first impression of each other?**

ooooo okay okay okay!! so my personal timeline is that garcia is at the bau for a few months before jj joins--

hotch tells her about a technical analyst penelope garcia, and jj doesn’t really get why ssa morgan rolls his eye at the introduction, but jj gets a whole office for herself and she doesn’t really mind.

garcia, on the other hand-- she’s known about jj since her application was in the system, and now that this jennifer jareau is in the system, _another blonde!! another girl!!_ from a small town, that’s okay, garcia can work with that, she’s just so excited

not even a moment after jj sits down in her office, garcia practically sprints in, and _wow, your eyes are gorgeous_ , that’s the first thing she says and jj blinks and says, _thanks?_ and garcia beams because jennifer jareau is even cuter in person, and garcia says, _i’m penelope, penelope garcia, i’m the tech analyst and the answer to all your dreams, i’m so glad you’re here, god, i can’t wait to hang out with you and talk about shoes, i swear to god morgan and reid are so BORING they have like two pairs of shoes, oh, do you like shoes? it’s okay if you don’t like shoes, i’m sure we can find something else to talk about--_

and jj is nodding because she’s processed like three of this woman’s words and maybe on another day the sheer amount of information coming out of her mouth would annoy her but...... but she’s not irritated. if anything she’s content? she’s pretty and bubbly and jj would never try to wear her bright yellow dress herself and she also makes jj feel at home, like she belongs here.

they go get lunch together and garcia is worried that she’s annoying jj because garcia’s talking so much and so loudly and jj barely says anything but when she does jj sounds genuinely interested about gallifrey and the companions and when she laughs god it’s the most delightful sound in the world.

(garcia is a good person, jj decides. her smile is brilliant and her heart is genuine and jj doesn’t want to let go of her.)

**Author's Note:**

> talk to me on my blog! --> ssa-lesbian.tumblr.com :]  
> hope y'all enjoy xoxo


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